Run to the hills.


Though today’s post has nothing to do with the topic that Bruce and company detailed in the above song, (one of the only post-Di’Anno era Iron Maiden songs I like, mind you), at least the song’s title is appropriate due to the fact that running to the hills is about what I’m about to be doing.

On the heels of my buddy’s passing, a year of more injury and illness than any one person should be subjected to, coupled with the recent mayhem in Orlando, the current completely ridiculous political climate, the voices in my head, and so on, I finally have hit the wall and am going to be headed into the woods for the next ten days. Dog willing and the creek don’t rise, I’ll be back in your loving arms on the 4th, and will resume a regular posting schedule on the 5th.

I don’t know if it will make my head feel any less squashed, but I certainly feel/hope that it can at least help.

Though I won’t be posting much here, I will most likely continue to make with the sorta magic within the AHTBM Instagram feed, as well as various other social media channels. It’s my hope after sitting in creeks and riding my mountain bike in the wilderness for a few days, I’ll emerge from the other side with a renewed sense of calm, and inspiration.

If not, then I’ll just load up my truck and try it again.

Truth be told, my original plan was to drive to Colorado and spend two weeks riding the Colorado trail by myself, but plans shifted in recent weeks, and real life changed that agenda. I can always try it again next year, but for now, the wild open spaces of the California mountains will have to suffice. I appreciate your patience while I’m away and look forward to meeting up again on my return when we will post various photos and tales of and about the middle of nowhere.

In the meantime, I have a short stack of information to get through, which I will begin now.

Firstly, my old homie Monique reached out with a project that I kinda missed giving traction to her first time around. Luckily, as rarely happens in nature, I’ve come to find that I got a second chance;

Hey dude.

So my t-shirt campaign came and went. I sold 30 and made $400 for cancer research. Due to popular demand, I re-opened the storefront for one week (closes June 27th). If you can find any extra space in your highly-anticipated blog, would you share it with your minions for me?
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back
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I’d consider you even awesomer. Speaking of summer, happy solstice! 17 hours of sunlight today to ride your bike. Here’s the link.

Muchas gracias,
Monique

If you’d like one of Monique’s shirts, and will have some dough between now and the 27th, you know what to do.

She sent a follow up email just a short time after making this initial contact that I also feel compelled to include, just so we’re all aware of the greatness we’re in the presence of;

Ok, one more thing. You make me feel nostalgic, especially after seeing that pic of Toby in your blog today.

I just dug up this memory from October 1999. Quite possibly the pinnacle of my achievements;
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Yours truly at the wall on Messenger appreciation day with my 1999 San Francisco Bicycle Messenger Association “Rookie of the Year” trophy. Ah, the good ol’ days!

xo,
M

See? Here on this website thing we walk with giants.

And speaking of t-shirts, I would be remiss not to include a final announcement about the current AHTBM t-shirt of the month offering;
tomorrow
Like last month, I’ll be gone for the 25th, so the order window will be extended an additional week.

Following that, I’ll yank the current offering down and post up the final shirt of the series.

So there you go;
TMYK
Aaaaand, one more item on that topic- My screen printer got buried under a job consisting of billion sportsball shirts, as well as their regular contract with Thrasher Magazine, and our little order of May’s shirt got pushed to the side. Thankfully they called me in yesterday morning, and I got all of the shirts picked up, packed up, and shipped off;
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Ordinarily the ladies at my post office station are always happy to see me, but as I sauntered in with this load, soaked with sweat and dazed from the heat, they weren’t so much;
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Anyway, they are all now en route to their homes. I have a few additional sizes, so if by chance you find that you’d like one, hit me up (stevil(at)allhailtheblackmarket(dot)com), and I’ll let you know what we can do about it.

Lastly, as many or at least a few of you know, this past Saturday marked the sixth or seventh or somethingth Wizard Staffs Across The Universe celebration. Across the land the musical sound of beer cans being cracked and duct tape being torn could be heard. So far a few images have begun filtering in, and it would seem as though collectively, we’ve once again done the date proud.

Mesa, Arizona;
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Oakland, California;
Oakland (1)
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Minneapolis, Minnesota;
Minneapolis
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Minneapolis2
Southwest Montana;
Montana
Somewheresville, Wisconsin;
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Indeed, it would appear as though we’ve once again knocked this bastard holiday out of the park.

Certainly if you’d like to forward on any images you might have to me for my collection, feel free, and I’ll include them in the chronicles of the damned.

In terms of nonsensical events, now all we have to look towards is Underbike;
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-and the Hairnet Ride;
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For which I don’t yet have a flyer made, but this image from the 1986 Coors Classic oughta do the trick.

It is with that, that I now rip the chord and free fall away from computers, technology, congestion, noise, and all of the random and sometimes beautiful chaos that city life provides, straight into the absence of any of it.

Naturally, while donning stretchy lycra pants and a studded vest for the descent.
newlittleskull

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2 Responses to “Run to the hills.”

  1. Greg June 22, 2016 at 3:33 pm #

    I had to stop reading after I got scolded for liking iron maiden with Bruce Dickinson. I guess I’ll never be as cool as gen x’rs like Stevil.

    • Stevil June 22, 2016 at 5:17 pm #

      There’s no scolding happening here. I just prefer ‘Iron Maiden’ and ‘Killers’ more than any of the other releases. To each their own, I say. I think I’m about a decade beyond the gen-x window anyway, but I’ll take that as a complement just the same.